Captain William Porterfield admitted the nerves started to get to him as Ireland scrambled to their target against Zimbabwe.
They needed just seven runs from the last two overs in their Twenty20 World Cup opener, but managed only three from the penultimate over and then lost their two wickets before a bye with the last ball won the game.
He told Sky Sports 2: "I was fine up until about three balls to go.
"Obviously, it had got a lot closer than we would have liked, especially getting down to needing seven off the last two (overs), but all credit to the way Zimbabwe bowled in the last few overs.
"They took those few wickets and put us under pressure."
"They took those few wickets and put us under pressure"
Man of match Paul Stirling also reiterated his captain's thoughts on their strong opening partnership, but stressed there is still hard work to be done in their upcoming fixtures against UAE on Wednesday and Holland on Friday.
He said: "To get off to a good start was the plan but we haven't really done that recently. We're thankful that it came off today.
"I think I had to keep playing my natural game (after losing Porterfield) and keep being aggressive and hopefully get that run rate up to the rate that we required - and I'm just glad we got over the line.
"We knew how important this game was and we now know how important the next two games are coming into Wednesday and Friday."
Zimbabwe captain Brendan Taylor was obviously disappointed for the game to end in such a dramatic defeat, but promises his side will come back stronger against Holland in two days' time.
On the last ball drama, he added: "I was backing myself to hit the stumps.
"He's such a good death bowler (Panyangara) I just thought maybe full and straight - if he had got it right - and unfortunately I missed the stumps but that's the way it goes and we're going to come back stronger for the next game."
